Monday, April 28, 2008

We went to my in-law's last night for our family dinner and all was well until we were about to leave. We said our goodbyes, headed out the door and the kids went out first. Well... Olivia decided Duncan was in her way and that she wanted to go down the stairs first and by herself. So she pushed Duncan down the two concrete stairs.

Being a two year old, after a hard fall, of course his hands are in perfect condition, LOL. But his poor little head isn't. He landed ON his face. It was pretty bad. He's a tough cookie though, cried for about two seconds until I got to him, cried when he saw his knees but I was glad we didn't have a mirror, I think it would have freaked him out to see his face. Daddy picked him up and he was fine after that, pretty mellowed out but it was quite the end to an evening of normalcy from the kids.

Here are some shots of his poor little face. :(

I have flashbacks of Daniel and Maddie with the "wooden block" incident, and of course, the spatula throwing at Brin's head when the rubber part came off, LOL. It could have been much MUCH worse, but this is definitely one of the biggest incidents we've had so far. She's definitely remorseful this morning but it was NOT a fun evening last night.

But as you can see from photo #2, Duncan is still Duncan, alive and smiling like his face wasn't ever rubbed raw by some nice flat concrete.

Sunday, April 27, 2008

We are SO close to being done, I can hardly stand it! For Cam's birthday/you-have-a-nice-wife present he got his 42" widescreen plasma TV, super nice. :) So our stand was too small, and the big bookshelves too big to fit next to it so we began to redo the family room.

First to go were the shelves, one is on the opposite side of the room where's it's sort of out of the way and doesn't make the couch look lopsided. The other is in the upstairs hallway in between the kids' room and the office. They both look nice where they are. The only thing I miss is a working CLOCK in that room! I'll be on the lookout for an antique-ee type one pretty soon.

Then came the TV stand, much too small. Just the screen of the TV, not even it's full size, was too big for the TV stand. It went upstairs to swap with my antique trunk that was in our bedroom with out TV on it. I got that for Christmas one year from my parents. While it's the heaviest thing known to man, I LOVE it! We swapped those out and I put the trunk down by the bottom half of the stairs, in the dining room. The color of the table with the trunk is beautiful and it ties in the other antiques from the family room, like my phonograph, all my cameras, and the sewing machine atop the bookshelf. It looks great where it is. :) Olivia's kitchen was there before but for mommy's sanity we moved that to her room. Too much mess and little pieces for an area of frequent traffic, lol.

So finally with everything out that we needed out, and everything ready for what was coming in - we bought a new TV stand. Good deal on it, love the color of the wood, the hardware is very nice looking... just all around, we love it. :)

Shortly thereafter the TV arrived. While I was hoping the length would help the whiteness of the wall, it just was NOT happening. We needed something above it, and badly.

Finally, while at Robert's one day, we saw the frames we have there now and went back three times to get each one of them 50% off, LOL. They were each only about $6.34 a piece. Then, Jessica (SIL) told us that that was where they had gotten their shelf. Ours is a little different, has this gorgeous "Dentil" trim on it. We painted it (3 times, lol) and finally it was finished, dry, and hung today.

My other little collections sit atop of the shelf with out pictures hung behind. What do you think?

Here's Cam, my very handy hubby in this whole endeavor, on the couch. He was watching TV until I asked him to turn it off so I could take some photos. :) He indulges me so very much. ;) I was trying to take a photo of him, of course, he turned.

"Can't I just have one smiling picture?"

Cameron's response:

Oh well, shelf is up, pictures and etc. up and I'm SO pleased with the outcome! As everything continues to come together I'll continue to share. :) Sometime this week I'll have to post photos of the dining room as well, our table is wonderful. :)

Friday, April 25, 2008

For some reason I'm still not satisfied. I've posted twice this morning, the last right before this one and I just feel like I haven't done much. Of course, journaling wise I haven't.

This week has been a weird one. Literally that would explain it to an exact point but still... something's just different.

Stupid Moments in the last month:

Cameron needed help with some homework, asked his sister Tarra to come over after a family dinner. So we arrive at the house and there are sea gulls EVERYWHERE, caa-ing in the sky, caca-ing on people's cars, just crazy. So, being an Oregonian, my first response to the site is, "Wow, gosh, I feel like I'm at the beach. I didn't even know we had sea gulls here."

To which my handsome husband responds, "Sea gulls are the Utah State Bird."

WOW. *smack* Maybe I should carry around a sign that says "WARNING: May spew out stupid comments that will only further push you to believe I'm incompetent." Yeah. Definitely dumb moment of the month #1.

#2: This morning, at the crack of dawn, Hubbs is getting ready to leave and is a bit hyper trying to make me smile, being a nice guy. Well, I'm grouchy because this was a morning I just did not want to wake up. It was the roll over, oh please, tell me it's not already 6:18, roll over again to force body out of bed physically morning. So after his silly comment and his loudness I begin to gripe at him telling him he's too loud, don't wake the kids, I tell him. "Okay sorry, shhhhh," he says, he's quite the Adam Sandler when he tries. :) So I'm still scolding him because it's after 6:40 and he's not taking me seriously, why I think people need to be serious in the morning, I have no idea, I think I was just not quite awake.

Me: "You just need to take your whole morning routine and lower it about 15,000 decimals."

Bahahaha, not only do I sound like a complete idiot but I had to end it with the last word being "whatever", I should have just tipped my hat to side, swung my arms around like a chimpanzee, and told my pimp hey hey move out my crib, ho. (BTW, Brin, you can stop laughing and getting excited, I wasn't wearing a hat or saying "ho" with my lips pursed, lol.)

So there are stupid moments for the month, and today apparently.

Not sure what I'll be up to today. I really should work on my Wedding Album, and I need to find something to wear to the theatre on Wednesday with Jessie, at some point feed the starving children AGAIN. (This is the second breakfast they've had today, lol.) And I just realized I forgot to put lettuce in Cam's sandwiches. UGH.

I am glad, however, for tonight. We're going to take the kids to a small Chinese restaurant down by the corner of 7800 S and 3200 W. It's a fun place, great food, pretty cheap and we all enjoy the wontons. :) Hopefully, after dinner we'll be able to go to the library so that I can get a new book. Either before or after, since Ghost Whisperer is on tonight at 7 though, we'll probably go to the library first right after Cam gets home from work and then head over to the restaurant from there.

Okay, I need to end this and maybe, just maybe, go get something productive done.

Now, all of you stop reading and go outside. Enjoy your non-snowy weather before it starts snowing again.

And of course, what girl would be girl without her parade of toys acting out some dramatic scene? Here's Liv and hers...

On the other side of news, the ADULT not speaking in tongues side, I finished my book last night! Read over 200 pages in one day. No scoffing, use to read up to 6 books at a time when I was in junior and highschool, but then I had babies. And time suddenly fluttered away before my eyes, lol. Anywho, wonderful book. Be sure to check it out. :)

I may even go return it today or tonight and get a new one. We're going out to Chinese tonight down on 78th S and the Library is down past there, maybe we'll stop off. Ballot #2, wow, maybe I'll win a $15 gift certificate. ;)

Did you ever think in your adult life you'd say that to another person? Yikes.

I went downstairs with Liv to get the kids breakfast. What I found instead of Duncan playing with his cars was Duncan playing with a stick of butter in an empty cracker box that Cam must have left on the counter this morning. How a stick of butter in an empty cracker box is more exciting... I'm not sure. I'm just thanking my lucky stars that the combination of...

butter + empty box > butter + Daddy's new TV

When you're a mother, inequalities take on a whole new meaning...

After watching a "Beatles" episode of Wonderpets with the kids, I've decided I NEED that episode on tape, it is SO cute. It is pretty sad though that while watching I could pick out the actor's voices and tell which Beatle was supposed to be which. Very cute idea though, glad I got to catch it. :)

I think I'll write more later. I feel pressed for time. Not sure why, most likely will be on again.

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Cameron's birthday was on Sunday! We had a lot of fun together after church and dinner which included opening cards (his gift was the HUGE TV gracing our family room and a 3-movie DVD set which he opened during the kids quiet time, LOL. I guess he couldn't wait, oh well.) and of course, CAKE and icecream!

This year, I think possibly last year as well, I made him my Gma Cole's recipe for Sleuth Cake, YUM! I'll have to do a recipe of that on my cooking blog. It's fun to make because it's so different and SO much more satisfying that a simple box cake. And YUMMMMO is it GOOD!

Cam didn't want to waste 23 candles so he said to do a "2 and a 3". Well, I misunderstood and wrote "23" with the candles and got to use 23 anyway, haha. :) Good thing he loves me, cause I'm a nut. ;)

I picked out his orange Aero shirt, it's a GREAT color on him. :) So handsome. He got the shirts (a navy blue one as well, both from Aeropostale) using his birthday money from his parents. Pretty good lookin' present on him, wouldn't you say? I love my handsome hubby. :)

Hope you enjoyed the only photos I got to take of the event... lol. :)

Well, lately my little brainiac daughter has been using her smarts and directing them more towards smart comments from her mouth. Which hasn't been the most pleasant... nor calming for her mother... environment we've created because of all of this. So in wanting to have a light environment for her to subconsciously evolve to we're trying some new methods. On a normal basis we've been pro spanking, big on time out, and of course we get frustrated and the whole evolution of a day turns into fights and arguments over the end of the world. So, we're trying the "You Can Do This" idea from BYU David O. McKay School of Education research. The link is: You Can Do This and the idea is positive parenting. Not spanking or inappropriate punishments for things - discipline being something separate from punishment, etc, a learning experience.

I've never felt good about spanking, and I see my daughter doing the same thing I would do when my parents came for me or said my name in the tone (for Mom that was "Melissa Anne!") I would cover my butt with my hands and plop down thinking then they couldn't spank me, haha. :) As a parent I now know that was never an obstacle, LOL.

Regardless, everyone parents differently because everyone has different children. As mine have gotten older, mostly Liv, I've noticed that Daddy's spankings are more effective where as mine are like phhhft, whatever. So, rather than fully allowing Daddy to be the mean one and me just sitting back and letting him know who to punish I decided I wanted to try a completely new idea and philosophy on the subject and idea of parenting. How we were parenting our children.

I encourage you to peek at the link above, the site is very interesting and has some neat ideas. This morning we had a dilemma and I decided to try and use what I read to help Olivia and I through it.

We have a rule about after dinner. Livy has always had a problem with having "accidents" in the morning. It's not a problem of wetting the bed, it's not overnight, it's in the morning. She wakes up and "can't hold it" so she pees in her bed. It's a HUGE pain in my day considering she's the top bunk and it's SO obnoxious to clean and change the sheets, etc. So we started preventative actions.

- After dinner, no drinks before bed.- Even if you don't need to go potty, you need to go sit on the toilet before bed, no butts about it. (No pun intended, haha - and yes, she ALWAYS ends up going even though she swears on her life she doesn't need to.)- If you still need to go potty and you're in bed and think you're not going to be able to climb down, just yell for Mommy or Daddy and we will help you get to the toilet faster.

So this worked GREAT for a long time. But then as she got used to the routine of bedtime that way, she started pushing limits. Asking for sips of water or water before she went potty to go to bed, etc. Then last night that went to a new level. She knows that after bedtime, Daddy's done with homework, Mommy's beat from a long day so generally we're downstairs watching a movie or a show on TV. Last night she decided even though we had to told her specifically that night that she was not to have a drink, that she was going to get one anyway.

She snuck out of her room, into the bathroom, poured water into a "Dora" cup from her Dora kitchen in her room, drank the whole of it, and ran back into bed closing the door behind her. Well, Cam and I had no idea. Surprisingly enough I didn't even hear the door open and close! So later we went to bed.

Later that night she had to go to the bathroom, imagine that! So she climbed out of her bed and thinking she "couldn't make it" she sat on top of the toilet seat lid and peed in her pants a little. Then she lifted up the lid (grossssss) and finished the rest in the toilet. She then put her wet clothes back on (eeewww, KIDS, bleh) and went BACK to bed.

The next morning when the kids got up Liv came out and was walking funny. I asked her what she was doing. She explained to me that she snuck out of her room to get a drink last night. Knowing where this was going, I pryed a little more:

"You snuck out of your room?"

"Yes, in the bathroom to get a drink."

"Even though Mommy and Daddy told you not to?"

"Yes and then I had an accident in my bed."

"So what you're telling me, is that you purposelly disobeyed Mommy and Daddy? We told you that you were not to have a drink because when you have one before bed you have an accident."

Liv: silence. She shrugs her shoulders like uhhh, yeah.

"So you snuck in the bathroom, disobeyed Mommy and Daddy, got a drink, and peed in your bed?"

"Yes."

So I go in her room and there's the glass on the side of the bed with a little bit of water left in it. I asked her to climb up and see if there was pee in the bed or just in her pants, etc. And she told me she did it on the toilet. Lo and behold, there it is in the bathroom.

So NORMALLY. I would be TICKED. Still was, and I probably shouldn't have let that be known as well as I did, lol. Anywho, we probably would have not let her play the computer. She loves playing on Nick Jr. the Dora games, etc. She's very good and gets to play for a little bits throughout the day.

So I told her no computer and she starts BAWLING. Like full on two-year-old-style tantrum. "THIS DOESN'T MAKE SENSE, I NEEEEEED MY COMPUTER! WAAAHHHH!" Freaking out, full on. So suddenly it hit me. Just TRY it I thought to myself.

"Okay, Olivia, stop. We need to talk."

"WHAT?"

"Livy, talk nicer please, you don't need the attitude."

"Okay, what Mommy?"

"Why doesn't the punishment make sense?" She doesn't even know what the word means but surprisingly she's beginning to understand the idea of it.

"I just peed and I was naughty, I'll just say sorry!" Like most kids her age, she's very into the "sorry" fixes everything.

"Sorry doesn't solve the problem Livy. It's important to let us know you're sorry but you can't say you're sorry and then disobey us again, it doesn't work that way."

She's sitting there looking at me like I'm insane with big alligator tears preserved on her cheeks.

"I'll make you a deal," I said. "You are right Livy, when you disobeyed Mommy and Daddy and had your accident afterwards, it doesn't have anything to do with the computer. So let's try something different. You need to apoligize to Mommy and Daddy for sneaking and disobeying. Then, you're going to help clean off the toilet from your mess and strip your bed to put your linens in the wash. Does that consequence make sense?"

She has this look like yeah it does, but that's SO much work. She gives her dramatic sigh of "aaahhhuhhh!" (Mom and Dad, I'm sure you remember mine...) and says "Yes. It makes sense."

I got her a Lysol wipe from the container and made her wipe and scrub the toilet seat lid, underneath, toilet seat, underneath, and the top of the toilet bowl. From the sounds and facial gestures I'm guessing she's not looking forward to having to do that again!

We then went into her room and she cleared all the stuffed toys and books from her bed and I stood on the floor while she stripped all her blankets and sheets from the bed, handed them to me and I threw them in the hall. I never realized how much I enable her with her bed... I'm always the one to make it and at her age that's perfectly normal, BUT, she didn't even want to pull the fitted sheet off. "I can't, I'm not a mommy," and she'd fake try to pull. I kept telling her, you're the one that made the mess, you're going to have to clean it up, pull harder. By the time she got to the 4th corner I think she was even a little proud of herself. :)

She put all of the linens into the washing machine, I plopped her up onto of the dryer, she pulled the knob to start the water, she scooped and dumped the soap into the machine and I closed the lid. She knows that when the washer's done she gets to help put them in the dryer.

And WOW was it an improvement. Because there was no spanking or yelling or inappropriate consequence she kept telling me that it DID make sense. I think she's starting to understand that when she does something, she's responsible for it. I've always cleaned up the mess, but now that she sees the hard work (and fun work from the toilet seat scrubbing) I don't think she'll be so eager to disobey that rule next time, lol.

Well, now that this has turned out to be a novel, I'll sign off. I'll share more "success" stories as they come. Cameron and I are going to go over the full ideals and objective on this style of parenting because MAN it would be nice if things went this smoothly everyday. Or at least on the not "bump on the road" days, lol. Wish me luck, and PATIENCE!

Friday, April 18, 2008

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

So naughty little boy and girl are staying up tonight after being put down for bed. I go in for the second time just raving mad and Duncan is singing, asking, for "Aaaaaaa byyyeeeee?" I couldn't resist.

So I sit down and start sings "All the Pretty Little Ponies" to him and Liv and he starts SINGING! I couldn't believe it, it just cracked me up! So I had Cam come in and tape it. :)

Enjoy! (Excuse our dryer, LOL! You can totally hear it in the background. Ooh, and look at my new glasses. :))

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

We've been having a lot of fun lately, of course since Brandon and Jessica moved in! Well, okay, in sounds like into our house! The buildings in our complex are by number, we're in #9C and they're in #10C. So super close and fun for the kids to have someone to play with.

Last week we went to the library with them and the kids got to play in the "Kids' Korner" (Yes, with the annoying K, can we not spell Corner? We were at a LIBRARY after all...) and they had a great time. Friday we went to the park down in the neighborhood behind the complex, and then again yesterday after we had dinner.

I, of course, have forgotten my camera every time. But I do have some photos of Duncan from the last time that just the kids and I went.

Cameron's birthday present arrives today... his new 42" TV. What a nice wifey I am. :) He's very excited for it and hoping that they will actually deliver today like they're supposed to. We, just this past Saturday, also bought a new TV stand so the TV could fit on top of it, LOL. It looks really good with the new furniture, now we just need to get the coffee table and end tables that go with it. My hand-me-down chest is just not cutting it, especially color wise. We'll miss the storage but the room will look so much better with the matching tables.

I'm also doing a new arrangement on the wall behind the TV since I had to move my bookshelves to make room for the new stand and width of television. I'm excited for the outcome, and once everything is put together and hung I will post photos. :)

I finally finished my Honeymoon album, aka our Disneymoon, YAY! I will be bringing it to Oregon for Thanksgiving so that family and friends will be able to see all the fun we had in Anaheim back in August. I've very slowly and reluctantly begun to put our Wedding Album together but for some reason it's so much harder her me to do then the Disney one was. My goal is to have that finished for the November trip so that those who couldn't be at the wedding can see the photos finished and in their book. :)

I've got chores still to do, laundry too ooh fun, and a scrapbook page that's calling my name. But hopefully... it'll be sooner rather than later that I post again.